Bennett: Teaching kids to tackle STEM at an earlier age

We can't ignore essentials of learning in K-5 education

By William Bennett

Updated 7:02 pm, Thursday, June 26, 2014

From universal pre-kindergarten to Common Core state standards to the value of a college degree, the country is engaged in a serious debate about education priorities. Many of these conversations hinge on whether we believe we are adequately preparing American students for the modern workforce.

Although there are a few dissenters, most people who have studied education and the workforce agree that greater competency and ability in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects are requisites for Americans to excel in the 21st century.

To be clear, they're not talking about Ph.D.s or advanced STEM degrees, but the opportunity for employment in STEM fields at post-high school and post-college levels.

With this in mind, these questions arise: How do we get there? What are the right policy solutions?

One option is to increase H1-B visas. That certainly has its role, but many people ask rightly why can't we produce our own students highly proficient in the STEM disciplines? It's a legitimate question and a number of things are currently being tried and tested.

I'm a senior adviser to Project Lead The Way. Aptly named, the initiative is spearheading the movement to train and equip teachers with the skills needed to develop the next generation of Americans with a proper appreciation and knowledge of the STEM disciplines.

While much of the recent emphasis on STEM training has been placed at the middle or high school level, Project Lead The Way just debuted a new, groundbreaking program to begin engaging younger students (kindergarten through fifth grade) in the STEM subjects.

Almost all educators agree that mastery of basic literacy and numeracy are most important in the early years of a child's life. It is at these young ages that many children decide that math and STEM-related subjects aren't for them. The excuse we hear too often is that "It's too hard" or "I'm just not good at math," and therefore many young people opt out of STEM courses before they even hit their teenage years.

We must counter that. Early STEM education ought to be a national priority and part of our policy debates. Project Lead The Way is demonstrating one effective solution: developing engaging, hands-on, math- and science-based lessons that appeal to children, and training teachers who teach at those early grades to be comfortable with STEM subjects and to commit time to the task, one of the old verities of education.

I recently had a conversation with Attorney General Greg Abbott, Republican candidate for governor of Texas. I was heartened to learn that a major part of his education plan for Texas is to emphasize STEM training for teachers and STEM-related courses for students at early ages.

As education experts like E.D. Hirsch and David Geary have reported, proficiency with reading and numeracy by the end of the third grade is crucial for future educational success because reading and numeracy are the building blocks upon which other learning is applied. Abbott is right to focus his attention here.

Specifically, his plan calls for the creation of math and literacy achievement academies to train K-3 teachers in reading and numeracy instruction and technology. Abbott's plan recognizes that the mastery of numeracy and literacy are essential foundations for STEM pathways.

This is very encouraging. Abbott isn't the only state leader emphasizing STEM disciplines, but if a state like Texas were to take the lead, it could make a major national difference. I also recently spoke to nearly 1,000 elementary teachers in Rockwall, assembling for just this purpose. They told me that not only do teachers need proper training and resources for STEM pathways, but that we, as a society, need a full cultural embrace of STEM as well, particularly from parents.

Unlike in China and Singapore, where when children run into learning obstacles they're encouraged to work harder or longer, when American children struggle, we often make excuses and give them a pass because of genetics or hereditary outcomes.

A common refrain heard around kitchen tables in America: "I wasn't good at math. Your grandfather wasn't good at math. So it's OK that you're not good at math."

To paraphrase a quote by the writer Flannery O'Connor, we need to push back as hard as the age that pushes against us.

We need to counter any temptations to surrender the STEM disciplines by adequately training our teachers and educators and also encouraging students and parents to appreciate and pursue the STEM pathways. America's future depends on it.

William Bennett served as U.S. secretary of education in the Reagan administration.